Need Help With Manzanita Plant Stand

[GraciePuppie]

Good afternoon! I hope everyone is up for a great weekend! So...I was hoping for any and all advice and ideas related to our newest little project. Russ is now experimenting with plant stands and tables using Manzanita and I love the look. The thing we are having a bit of a problem troubleshooting is exactly how to attach the burl slabs to the tree. We bolted straight through the slabs, and although they are very secure we just aren't happy with the look. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to get this done? I was thinking brackets but everyone is telling me that's a bad idea? Thoughts?

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

1/4" steel plate cut to hide under the bottom with holes drilled for the attachment points and countersunk slightly to keep it from rocking around.
If you cannot stand the steel, try 3/8" plywood with the same design criteria.

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

For the current piece, try a thick colored filler. Maybe a tiny bit of colorant similar to what you would use in epoxy added in to the wood filler. That would be the bondo type filler. It is more water proof

 

[Nature Man]

1/4" steel plate cut to hide under the bottom with holes drilled for the attachment points and countersunk slightly to keep it from rocking around.
If you cannot stand the steel, try 3/8" plywood with the same design criteria.

Would you please sketch this out. I have a slab I will need to mount to similar legs. Thanks! Chuck

 

[Mr. Peet]

I think what you have is great. I'd use a black silicone to fill and cover the bolts. Once cured, waterproof. Additionally, the plants you put on the flats hide the bolts. Reason I say silicone is in case a flat gets broken the silicone can be easily removed to remove the bolt and replace the flat (shelf).

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

Would you please sketch this out. I have a slab I will need to mount to similar legs. Thanks! Chuck

 

[DLJeffs]

A place up the road toward Terrebonne makes stuff from juniper logs. I had them make me a small bench that my wife uses for a plant stand next to the kitchen window. It's a similar design with a slab bolted to log legs. They counter sink the bolt holes and then glue a plug into the counter sink to hide the bolts. Two comments about this method:
1. Works fine if both slab and log legs are solid. But if either doesn't hold the bolts tightly, the slab will wobble. In your case, the manzanita slabs have cracks and will probably continue to crack over time. That makes me think that the method I photo'd below won't work very well (unless you use more solid slabs and can seal them against cracking). I'd recommend going with some sort of attachment bracket like Frank designed.
2. The plugs that hide the bolt holes often age differently than the slab. You can see in my photo the plugs now stick up a sixteenth of an inch above the slab. They were all perfectly smooth when I brought the bench home a few years ago. This isn't a major problem and is easily fixed with more sanding and refinishing the slab top. But if the plugs shrink, they also become lose and often you'd have to remake new plugs that fit snugly. Again, not a deal breaker, just something that is hard to prevent. Sealing the top against moisture and drying helps but over a few years this problem will likely emerge.

 

[Firewood Potter]

If you don’t want filler or silicone, remove bolts, heat heads to red, dunk in used motor oil. that should make them black. The round holes would look better with a more random pattern on them, to , maybe, simulate the natural voids in the slabs.